


Keepsakes

by whatwecan



Category: Broadchurch, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 03:06:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8084323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatwecan/pseuds/whatwecan
Summary: An AU take on Hardy/ Rose relationship.  A reunion in Broadchurch.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Nominated for Best Alec Hardy Short in the 2015 Teninch Fic Awards!
> 
> Nominated for Best Rose Tyler Short in the 2015 Teninch Fic Awards!

He’d missed it, the worn windswept rose of her cheeks as she turned her face into the salt of the October wind. She always did that, turned her face to the wind, squinting her eyes as if she was facing down some invisible adversary. 

Her flimsy paper cup wobbled on the uneven silvered boards of the old cafe table and he nearly reached out to steady it as she rummaged through her large dark purse, finally dropping a note and a handful of coins on top of the bill.

He followed her gaze to the beach, still unable to see the frothy tug of the waves without imagining their icy fingers tugging at Danny’s ankles.

(Still unable to think about Beth’s lost son without picturing the damp sand clinging to his own daughter’s pale cheek, without feeling the pang of things lost.)

Rose’s hands were clutching the heat of her tea again through the thin walls of the paper cup. She hadn’t taken a sip. He avoided her gaze, instead scrutinizing the coins on the table. The image of a bird floated on serene waters.

“Where’d you go?”

Rose brushed a stray tangle of hair from her face with her left thumb.

“Oh a bit of all over.”

He can see the sparkle in her eyes as she begins to think back over her journeys. She’s always been a wanderer, never able to stay in one spot, except for– well he doesn’t want to think of that. Contemplate all the things that could have been and weren’t. He’d rather savor the far-off starry look in her eyes so he can remember it tomorrow, or the next day when she’s gone again. 

“Oh Alec, I wish you’d seen it.” She’s gushing now. Looking right through him as if he isn’t even there. "There’s this mountain in China with steps right up the side. I felt like I was climbing straight into the sky. And when you get to the top there’s this little village and everyone wakes early in the morning to watch the sun rise above the clouds, and they all clap and cheer as if each day is a just a miracle.“

As she talks Rose’s had rests on the table and Alec covers it with his own, pushing down the irrational fear that if he doesn’t tether her to the world she’ll float away. 

"They say it’s one of the seven holy mountains of China, and if you climb them all you live forever.”

Alec winces at that and she notices, the rapture of her travels falling from her face.

“Sorry,” she says. He’s not sure how much she’s heard about his troubles, but it’s the last thing he wants to remind her of. He thinks of that spectacularly awkward mistake with Becca Fisher. She’d reminded him a bit of Rose. "How’ve you been feeling?“

Alec just shrugs. How can he answer that. He feels like his heart may never beat again but it has nothing to do with his health. The coins on the table glitter in the slant light of the setting sun and he picks up the top one and hands it back to her.

"That one’s no good. It’s a loony.” He clarifies when she just gives him a puzzled look. “Canadian.”

Her smile is wide and mischievous, her toungue tipped in-between her teeth the way that always made him want to push her against the wall and kiss her until her forgot everything, the bloody case, his ex-wife, how fucked up his life had become when once everything had seemed so simple. Once, love had been simple.

He can hear the espresso machine’s rambling broken rasp from the coffee shack behind them as Rose pulls out her phone to check the time. 

“Stay this time Rose. We could have a go at it, it’s over between Tess and me.”

He doesn’t want to beg her, but he would. If it would work he’d promise her anything. Rose just smiles and shakes her head, and it’s as final as ever.

“Nothing’s ever over with you Alec. You’re too bloody stubborn.”

She smoothes the surface of the gold coin with the pad of her thumb before tossing it to him, the surface of it’s waters forever untroubled, it’s bird forever flightless. 

“You keep it. You always were my favorite loony.”

He’ll take it home and put it with her other keepsakes, cheap consolation prizes.

—

It’s 1 am on the green radium glow of the hotel clock when she knocks at his door, rummaging through her bag for a tissue to wipe her tearstained face. 

“What are you doing here?”

And he can’t help it, the cop in him sniffs the empty corridor for the smell of alcohol, something to explain her tearstained presence. It wouldn’t be like her, but neither is showing up at his room uninvited.

She’s fidgeting with the tissue now, twisting and re-twisting it until he’s afraid it’s going to fall apart and litter white shreds of sorrow all along the cheap berber carpet.

“Hardy, I can't… I don’t want…” she tries again, furrowing her brow as if the words are ten ton boulders she has to push out of her mouth. "I don’t really want to go to Paris, or Montreal or see Macchu Picchu or the bloody elephant terrace. I just, never really cared about those things. Not really,“ she hastens to add when he raises his eyebrows skeptically. 

"It’s just” Rose shrugs, “I figured I might as well be anywhere if I couldn’t be where I wanted to.” She looks into his eyes and there’s light and hope still buried there, beneath the long history of tears.

She’s chewing her lip now. The tortured tissue jammed back in her pocket.

“Be stubborn this time Alec, for me.”

Through his open window the waves roar as they churn and crash on the dark sands of the beach. Rose hadn’t even brought a coat.

He opens his arms to her, and Rose tucks herself against his shoulder at last. She’s come home. And Alec realizes as he presses his lips to her tangled hair, so has he.


End file.
